CX Fever....

Cyclocross? I don't even know how to spell it but I've made the plunge and got a bike, mainly because it's white. I'm not sure what's appealing to me about a 1 hr long sufferfest but I guess it will be good to do a little intensity after the 12 hr season wraps up at the Burnin'. Everyone seems to be talking about practicing dismounts and running but I'm most stoked that I have a decent bike to ride from my house up to the trails at SIUE and back.4 hrs of pavement on a mountain bike to get to and from the trails sucks, but not anymore! I have decided that since I haven't had a road license in a year, instead of upgrading to a 2 I will downgrade to a 5 and race the C's. The thought of racing against RP, Fletcher and Nagy is not very appealing. The only thing appealing about that is that I will be drinking beer way before them after I get shelled like peanuts at Busch Stadium. This is good because from what Matt James and John Farinella have told me "cross isn't about racing it's about looking cool and drinking beer." I figure I've got the looking cool part down and I'm good for about 3 beers nowadays. Anyone have a white long sleeve skinsuit for me??

We all went and rode at Lost Valley last night. The lightning on the way there was pretty intense but I insisted that "it will be dry in the woods." It wasn't even raining very hard when we got kitted up. I had just gone super deep tuning the White Knight including a full pulley overhaul, Mavic F-hub service, complete drive train clean and extensive polishing. It was dialed. John F, MJ, Kyle, Professor MTBR, the FBC series points leader and myself set out and it was immediately apparent that someone had spilled huge amounts of Pedros Wet Lube all over the trail making some very slick top-layer trail conditions. I don't know who did it but it was upsetting because after telling these guys how dry the trail would be "in the woods" they might have thought it was the rain that created the sucky conditions.

The FBC points leader attacked on the double track climb, clearly realizing how much better mountain bikes are WITH GEARS and Kyle got me close enough for me to close the gap and take charge in the big ring... JF was telling me on the ride there that Michelob Ultra is "an athletic beer and perfect for before a ride," but when I hit the turbo booster provided by the carbs in my 2006 American Lager Medal Winning PBR and dropped all those fools he was surely thinking otherwise.

I was charging through the Pedros and lighting the trail on fire with the dual Light and Motion HID setup I was running and starting to hear Eye of the Tiger blowing through the trees. Conditions were perfect! But them someone changed the channel to some Bette Midler and I lost focus and in an instant it was over. I had cut a 20mm gash in my rear tire and even Magic Stans Spooge couldn't save me. Without a pump, CO2, tire lever or tube I was forced to wait what felt like hours for those guys to catch up and bail me out. Refusing to use a pump and with 2 half empty CO2's I limped back to the car LOOKING FOR OWLS? with John on about 12 psi, ideal pressure according to Murphy.

The evening ended with some over priced Mexican food that resembled lasagna in Chesterbubble where people don't care if it's good as long as it's expensive, Cha-ching $$ margaritas that didn't even faze this lightweight and me hosing down my bike at 12am when MJ refused to prove to me what a nice mechanic he is.

Aren't you glad you came Matt?